New Facebook hub to showcase app
NEW YORK - Social networking giant Facebook is planning to launch an online hub App Center, where consumers will be able to find and buy games and applications even as the company is preparing an initial public offering that would value the company between $77 billion and $96 billion.
Not so much a store, but a showcase where users can browse the best Android, iOS, mobile and web apps that integrate with the social network, the App Centre will be launched in the next few weeks. It will be a new revenue generator for the company.
To be used primarily to promote apps that integrate with the social network such as Spotify or Pinterest, the hub will have its own ranking system based on the usage. The ranking will reveal the popularity of different apps among Facebook friends.
To promote innovations, the App Center will encourage developers to make apps for Facebook.com too, with the company taking a 30 per cent cut in the sale price.
The Apps Center would also provide a platform for stores to list their app. Ranging from social games to music services, app are popular activities on Facebook, the online social network with roughly 900 million users.
According to the company, 200 of the apps that are available on Facebook have more than 1 million users.
"For the over 900 million people that use Facebook, the App Center will become the new, central place to find great apps like Draw Something, Pinterest, Spotify, Battle Pirates, Viddy, and Bubble Witch Saga," said Facebook engineer Aaron Brady on the Facebook blog.
"Well-designed apps that people enjoy will be prominently displayed. Apps that receive poor user ratings or don't meet the quality guidelines won't be listed," Brady stated.
A key concern for investors is Facebook's slowing revenue growth, due in part to the widening trend of consumers accessing its service on smartphones, where Facebook provides limited ads.
In an amended prospectus, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Facebook said the popularity of mobile devices has caused its number of daily users to grow faster than the number of ads it is delivering.
Facebook makes the vast majority of its revenue from online ads, although it also collects fees when consumers purchase goods from within social apps, such as Zynga's Farmville.
Facebook is introducing the app service to give software developers additional options, but the company expects in-app purchases to remain more prevalent on the social network.
The App Center will feature content designed for PCs and mobile devices. If a mobile app requires installation for the mobile device, Facebook said it will direct users to Apple's App Store or Google Inc's Play store to download it.
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